Many Christians I have met believe that Jesus invented the Golden Rule. This is not true. The Golden Rule has been adopted by ever major religion in the world. It has been around for many hundreds of years prior to the life of Jesus. Jesus certainly embraced the concept of the golden rule, however:

Do to others as you would have them do to you. —Luke 6:31

Whatever you want people to do for you, do the same for them. —Matthew 7:12

We now know that If Jesus showed up to urge South Carolina Republicans to love their enemies, he’d be booed off the stage. Maybe he’d even be dragged into a back alley and gotten beat up. What else can you conclude from this stunning exchange involving Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul?

Erich Vieth is an attorney focusing on consumer law litigation and appellate practice. He is also a working musician and a writer, having founded Dangerous Intersection in 2006. Erich lives in the Shaw Neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, where he lives half-time with his two extraordinary daughters.

Comments (2)

The attitude expressed by the audience is unfortunately very christian, at least in a historical sense. Just one example—read the writings of Martin Luther with regards to the Jews. He begins as the epitome of tolerance, but by the end of his life he hated them. Why? Because they hadn’t become christians! His tolerance was predicated on the idea that if christians treated the Jews nice, then they’d be more willing to convert. When they still refused to convert, his tolerance evaporated until he was one of the staunchest of anti-semites, a defender of Us vs Them thinking.

Christian tolerance IN PRACTICE more often than not is a quid pro quo proposition—I’ll respect you as long as eventually you agree with me.

President Barack Obama on Thursday tied his proposal to raise taxes on wealthy Americans to his faith, telling leaders gathered for the National Prayer Breakfast that Jesus’s teachings have shaped that conclusion.

The rich should pay more not only because “I actually think that is going to make economic sense, but for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that ‘for unto whom much is given, much shall be required,'” Obama said at the Washington Hilton, delivering remarks at an annual event that every president has attended since Dwight D. Eisenhower.

“We can all benefit from turning to our Creator, listening to him,” Obama said. “Avoiding phony religiosity. … This is especially important right now when we’re facing some big challenges as a nation.”

. . .

“When I talk about our financial institutions playing by the same rules as folks on Main Street, when I talk about making sure insurance companies aren’t discriminating against those who are already sick or making sure that unscrupulous lenders aren’t taking advantage of the most vulnerable among us,” Obama said, “I do so because I genuinely believe it will make the economy stronger for everybody, but I also do it because I know far too many neighbors in our country have been hurt and treated unfairly over the last few years. And I believe in God’s command to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.'”

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